Tina's Walking Journal 🌳🚶🏻♀️🏡
Archive
October 2024.
October 27-31
Oct 27 & 28. Summer-like conditions. I decided not to go for a walk on these days.
Oct 29. Woke up late, decided to do the stairs for exercise instead of walking for fun.
Oct 30. Raining to beat the band and I couldn't find my umbrella. Does that sound like an excuse?
Oct 31. Too busy with Halloween preparations to walk today.
October 26 2024
Temperature: 32°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: none
Listening to: Eighties o'Clock: Pop Hits for the Morning
["Where Do The Boys Go", Men Without Hats] It's COLD out here! I can see my breath so well, it lingers a bit even. I can't tell you how much I looked forward to this when I started keeping this journal back in August; I mean, that's why I've been making notes about the temperature and the weather conditions. This way, when it's 100°F in the shade with a dewpoint of 79° and relative humidity of 85%, I can look at my journal here and see something like
Temperature: 22°F
Condition: Light snow
Wind: Moderate from the north
and remember that, even though I'm like a popsicle in the microwave right at the moment, the weather is going to get better. What? I'm planning on walking when it's snowing? You bet your hip-waders. As long as I can see where the pavement is, I'm gonna walk on it.
Several tracks pass without anything interesting happening...
["Through Being Cool", Devo] Hey, look! A raccoon. He probably saw my mobile phone's torch and decided I was too much of a hassle to deal with first thing in the morning.
["Safety Dance", Men Without Hats] Same with this fox here. It smells like he might have been using that shrub next to the science building as a latrine. Talking of the science building, there are only a few lights on in here. I guess science is on hold until Monday. Not even university research teams are immune to FOOTBALL!
["Grey Matter, Oingo Boingo] The last time I walked by here, there was an owl flying between trees. Nothing of the kind today.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of the new Halloween decorations because I couldn't be arsed to take one... well, I still have 5 days.
October 25 2024
Temperature: 45°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: Light from the north
Listening to: Sound of the Nineties: Nintendo 64
["Title Theme", Super Mario 64 (Koji Kondo)] First, about the playlist. How did I assemble it, considering how few official soundtrack albums were released? A combination of the Soundtracks collection on the Internet Archive (inaccessible since October 10), YouTube, and Zophar's Domain. Really there's nothing in the playlist that can't be found on either FreeTube/NewPipe or Zophar's Domain; so the fact the Internet Archive is down right now doesn't make a difference at the moment. Anyway, I'll put more details on the Playlisting txt.
["Windy & Co.", Conker's Bad Fur Day (Robin Beanland)] Well... there's a jack-o-lantern on the frat house's doorstep. I guess that's better than nothing. Also, the people in the house on the corner of Dead President and Numerical have artificial spiderwebs on their boxwood hedges. Please don't put halloween webs outside, it's bad for the environment. Not like it gives off emissions or whatever, but it'll make birds and squirrels sick, and it'll break down in the rain. Anyway, I'd hoped more people would decorate than this, but oh well. I'm sure they'll shoot the wad for Christmas.
Christmas and Chanuka intersect in the most ironic possible way this year—the first night of Chanuka 5785 is on Christmas Day Night. So, all the playlists will stop, all the decorations will be turned off, and all the celebratory atmosphere of the American Christian theocratic complex will cease the second Chanuka begins. Of course, for blended families, where there's Christians and Jews, the kids get to celebrate an extra-long time! So, that's a good thing anyway.
Several tracks pass without anything interesting happening, and then...
["Atlantis 1", Glover (Rob Lord)] Hey, at least 1 other house has their big-time decorations out! On the same road as Thin Blue Line over here even. I'll get a picture of it tomorrow.
October 24 2024
Temperature: 48°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: Moderate from the north
Listening to: Shout (Devo, 1984)
Um, well... things happened on my walk but i can't remember what any of them were because i read some stuff when i got back home that disrupted my train of thought and now i can't remember what i wanted to write in here. If you follow me on Neocities, you'll see that my not-exactly-private journal page has been updated, which has details about what cleared my temporary files folder.
I do remember one thing, though. I'm sort of glad that Jimi Hendrix' estate put the skids on Devo's music video for "R U Experienced". That song makes much more sense when Jimi (a Black man) sings it, whereas it gets divorced from context when Mark (a white man) sings it. Plus, the impersonator they found to play Jimi Hendrix in the music video is a white guy in blackface wearing nostril extenders. While being 5 white kids in the Rust Belt in the 1950s explains their brand of racism, it doesn't excuse it.
Beyond that, though, I got nothin'. Oh well, at least I got out.
October 23 2024
Temperature: 48°F
Condition: Mostly cloudy
Wind: Light from the north
Listening to: The Sims Original Video Game Soundtrack
[nhood3.mp3] It's cold, it's damp, it's fall, and it smells like leaves this morning. Welcome to fall! I'm listening to The Sims this morning because I HAVE TO work on "Myshuno 2" today.
[nhood1.mp3] It's a different experience, walking around your neighbourhood, listening to Sims music. Back when I was playing The Sims 3 for hours a day, it got to the point where I would default to that when I was outside somewhere. One time, I was at the store and I couldn't afford something, so I reached for the keyboard so I could enter "kaching" into the cheat window. But there was no keyboard. Of course, to be fair, I've tried to enter "CTRL+Z" when drawing on paper more times than I'd like to admit, so it may just be a feature of me.
I should have worn proper trousers. My pyjama trackpants may be comfortable, but they keep riding down. I'll just have to keep my hands in my pockets fulltime, won't I? The trackpants used to have a drawstring, but it broke 3 months ago. I'll know better tomorrow.
[nhood2.mp3] I'm pretty sure that was an owl that flew into that tree just now. It makes sense, cos I've heard screech-owls around here before. Also, this would explain why I haven't seen rabbits here in months.
[latin4.mp3] There's that '90s jack-o-lantern again. I think I'll get a picture of him this morning. I called him "unsettling" once, because he doesn't have the traditional "triangle eyes and toothy grin" pumpkin face, he's got more distinct facial features, like cheeks and a chin. Huh... in fact, he looks so much like a face that the camera has recognised him as a face.
[build1.mp3] I can't get back home from here, unfortunately, because workmen spent much of yesterday morning tearing up the pavement around that house behind my flat. I'll have to walk along Dead President Street, at the beginning of the morning commute an' all.
Of course, no one has fixed that light. No one's GOING to fix that light. It'll just keep blinking and flashing until it short-circuits and burns the building down.
October 22 2024
Temperature: 51°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: none
Listening to: Ed Edd n Eddy Character Anthems Playlist
["Everybody's Broke", Herbie Hancock (Eddy's Anthem)] Gonna go a different direction today. I'm actually going to cross Dead President Street and walk along Numerical Name for a while. Maybe they'll have more halloween decorations down here than they have where I normally walk.
["Flying North", Thomas Dolby (Double Dee's Anthem)] Boy, what an interesting stroll so far. NOT! Numerical Name is a long, straight, flat, boring street with lots of random sticks on the ground all over the place and lorries thundering past as they leave the plastic factory.
["Monsters", Blue Öyster Cult (Ed's Anthem)] It's darker down here than I anticipated. I actually can't look for decorations because I have to focus on the pavement. Just turning my phone screen white isn't going to do it, I need the actual torch.
This song talks a fair bit about "good ol' Joe". Where "Joe" was the quintessential American name back in 1980, now it's Joe Biden. I can't help but imagine this Pasha chick scoring with Joe Biden and it cracks me up everytime :P
["The Unheard Music", X (Sarah's Anthem)] It's unbelievably humid out here. I'm surprised my phone's moisture sensor hasn't started complaining about it yet. It feel like I'm walking through a wall of water, but it's not foggy or anything out here.
["Johnny on the Monorail", The Buggles (Jimmy's Anthem)] Somehow, despite the fact I didn't have to go downhill to get here, I'm having to go uphill to get back home! Apart from one house about 2 blocks away what was lit up like Christmas come early, and Hello Kitty dressed like a Jack-o-Lantern back there a bit, there weren't any significant decorations here. Cor, i'm never coming THIS way again.
October 21 2024
Temperature: 61°F
Condition: Partly cloudy
Wind: light from a variable direction
Listening to: Nonexistent TV Show Playlist (in the car), "It's Too Early for You to Be Here" Playlist (at the store)
I'm going to take my morning walk at the store today. I need petrol first, then I need food for Hallo-week.
The petrol station has a friendly skeleton greeter named Fred S. Dedd. It smells like strong black coffee in here. I'm out of ephemeral money, so I have to use the $20 bill in my wallet. Since I'm here, I may as well squeege off the windows; it's been really dusty and particulatey around here lately.
It's dark out still, so I can see all the Halloween decorations around here. There's not as much as what you see at Christmas, but there's enough to be interesting.
The morning commute starts early around here for all the restaurants and weird industrial shops. I remember there used to be a pub near the store that had a really famous hole-in-the-wall pizza place associated with it. I only went there once, with my mum when I was 16. I was so worried that someone would look at me and think I would try to drink beer, I don't remember the pizza all that much. They spun the pizza place off when the liquor store next door closed and they took over that space. Then the pizza place closed when that guy crashed his truck through the plate-glass window. The pub is still there, but it doesn't sell pizza anymore. I guess brick pizza ovens are expensive.
There's basically no one at the store, and that's why I'm here right now. The playlist outside of the football game is always particularly annoying, but at least there's no country-and-western anymore.
Anyway, it's just the store now. High prices, loud playlist, generative AI TTS announcers, and trolleys that roll to the right.
October 20 2024
Temperature: 56°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: none
Listening to: 1980s Cliches & Onehits
What is it with all these random-ass empty boxes showing up all over the place? They've been here for days, and I can only assume that they were intended for the bins, but they all blew away when it was really windy. Seriously! There's a box here, there's a box down there by that letterbox, there's a box in the road at the crossroads of Numerical and Dead President, there's even a box in the alley by my flat!
I have my standalone camera with me this morning but I don't think I'll take many pictures owing to the rather conspicuous red light on the front whenever I press the shutter button. It's almost as bright as the flashbulb!
I sure am jumpy this morning! Someone opened their front door as I walked by and I must have jumped a metre into the air! I hope it was too dark for them to notice.
Someone with a torch is looking into that car down there. I might think they're trying to steal it, but I don't think so. The last time a car's been stolen around here, I was still in high school.
It's a little warm this morning, so I'm just going to turn here and go by the sorority house, rather than going all the way down to the farmer stand. "A little warm", ha. I was out here when the temperature and the dewpoints were in the mid-70s F.
There's plainly a rabbit in this front yard here, and some kind of animal scuttled under that car just now. It was either a cat or a raccoon, I can't tell. Bit small for a fox, though.
The other sorority house got new LED porch lights. The frat house still has its recessed incandescent light. I'm not sure why it is, and I'm sure there's some scientific reason for this involving, like, the Fresnel principle or something, but incandescent lights make things... i dunno, glow more than LEDs do. Outside, at least. Maybe I'm just old.
Why haven't I been naming all the tracks? Because the playlist was on shuffle and I can't remember what they all were.
October 18-19 2024
Even though I did take morning strolls on both those days, I forgot to make journal entries. Nothing particularly interesting happened, though. Maybe that's why.
October 17 2024
Temperature: 45°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: gusty from the south
Listening to: Atari Supremacy: '70s & '80s synthpop
["I Feel Love", Giorgio Moroder ft. Donna Summer] On the way out the door, my new full-length mirror fell off my closet door. "7 years bad luck" nothin', I'm glad it didn't break because it cost $12!
The moon is still pretty high up in the sky this morning, but you can tell from the angle that she's ready to set. Talking of Luna, I was outside getting the paper towels out of the boot of the car last night and, when I looked up at the moon, I saw two commercial jets leaving condensation trails that were being brilliantly lit up! I sang the chorus of "Flying North" to myself on the way back inside.
["Sweet Dreams", Eurythmics] There's a house across Numerical Name that has a string of purple LED lights up for halloween. Actually, from this distance, it's easier to discern the discrete blue and red lights that were combined to make magenta. Incidentally, this is the same procedure my Windows XP laptop used to tell me about its battery status, except it had a green light also that would light up when the battery was removed and the machine was on mains power. It could use blue, red, magenta, green, and orange to indicate status. I only saw orange one time, after I trapped a particularly annoying fly in between the screen and the keyboard and turned the computer off by unplugging it and letting the battery drain. What do you want from me here, I was a teenager back then. The orange light lit up when I tried to turn the computer on before the battery had charged enough.
Even though the wind is from the south, and it's supposed to get to 77F today, there's still a bit of a wind chill. I imagine it's probably around 40F with the wind like this. Still, I'm glad I didn't wear my sweater. I'd be sweating.
["Never Gonna Give You Up", Rick Astley] I think I'll walk around the university again, but in the opposite direction. I was going to go down to Numerical, and cross to the other side of the road here, but I had to cross the road prematurely to avoid getting lawn-sprinkled. Hmm. This will either be the best idea I've ever had or the dumbest. We'll see.
Since I'm going this way, I may as well take some more pictures. You can never have too many night pictures, that's what I say. We'll start by framing the moon with the university's centennial arch. May as well get the arts building, too.
Several tracks pass without anything interesting happening...
["Cool City", Danny Elfman (actually Oingo Boingo)] There's a lot of activity at the sport field. I guess the football team is about to do their morning drills again. I wonder if they have to drill everyday during the season, or if it's a weekly thing or what, because the last time I walked by the pitch, the lights were off and there was no one in the carpark. Of course, it was a fair sight earlier in the morning then. Maybe I was already out of range by the time they got here? Whatever.
["Staying Power", Queen] I don't walk like a girl, do I? I try to walk more feminine at home, but I'm not sure how I would go about that while I'm walking for fun. Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't attempt it while I'm walking along a high-traffic road in a conservative neighbourhood at the start of the morning commute. I'm already taking my life into my own hands with the side-ponytail.
["Computer World", Kraftwerk] Here comes a motorcycle. Don't those things have turning signals? Anyway, I guess it doesn't matter; he's only 2 steps removed from being a pedestrian. Step 1, pedestrian. Step 2, bicycle. Step 3, motorcycle. Step 4, car.
["West End Girls", Pet Shop Boys] And so ends our impromptu hike this morning. Now I think I'm going to sit in my car and record a verbal diary entry into my dictaphone.
October 16 2024
Temperature: 24°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: none
Listening to: Rocko's Modern Life Character Anthems Playlist
["Nobody Takes Me Seriously", Split Enz (Rocko's Anthem)] Whoof! It's WAY colder than the Weather Service said it was gonna be! This is positively frigid! Not that I'm complaining, but there are a lot of people around here who have plants that can tolerate a light frost but well... not THIS. Fortunately, I am not a plant and I would like to stay that way, so I'm going out.
Going the opposite way from yesterday, I'm getting to the hopscotch games before I'm too tired to do it. It's the little things like random hopscotch on the sidewalk that add a desperately-needed sense of fun to life.
["Dawghaus", Devo (Spunky's Anthem)] WHOA! HOLY $#!7! Luna is absolutely BEAUTIFUL this morning!! Oh, this alone makes it worth coming out here! She's just starting to set for the night and it's a little hazy out here, so she is positively INCANDESCENT right now! I feel so fortunate to be alive in this city right now. B"H i didn't kill myself when I was depressed in college, otherwise how could I stand here and watch the streetlights all saying good-night to the moon amidst the various porch lights and '50s stained-glass chandelieres? I'll try to take pictures, but you know how mobile phone cameras are with the moon. Oh well, I can look at them and remember being here.
["Eat It", Weird Al Yankovic (Heffer's Anthem)] Actually, I'm going to take pictures of other things, apart from the moon. Whatever strikes my fancy. At this stage, I should probably take my mobile out of its case, so I don't have to keep unplugging my earphones whenever I want to take a photo. Why is that important? I have my front camera and biometric sensor covered with fun-tak and my back camera covered by a double layer of notecards that the case holds against the phone. I punched a hole in the cards for the torch, but the cameras have absolutely no way of seeing anything. I don't think I've taken the fun-tak off my front camera in 5 years, but I do take pics occasionally. So, yeah.
["Who Can It Be Now?", Men At Work (Filburt's Anthem)] One of these days, I should walk all the way down to Numerical Avenue and walk back up here through the alley. Well, maybe not the alley, but at 05:30, 06:15, there's not much going on, even on a high-density road like Numerical. I could walk along the art district to Catholic Street and come back up by the university's new science building. Not today, though.
["U Gotta Problem", Toni Basil (Hutch's Anthem)] Do I smell pizza? Yes, I distinctly smell a Little Caesar's pizza box. Don't ask me how I know that by smell alone, it's a long and complicated story that starts with someone telling me Little Caesar's pizza boxes smell different than other companies' boxes and ends with me verifying that is indeed the case. Quite possibly several pizzas. Pizza night at the frat house, I guess? That's the nearest building to here that makes sense.
["Cash In Your Face", Stevie Wonder (Ed Bighead's Anthem)] From here, it looks like that lawn sprinkler froze in that position. That's a fun mental image, even though it's not nearly cold enough for that to happen. I guess automatic sprinkler systems don't have a "Hard Freeze Warning" button.
October 15 2024
Temperature: 43°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: light from the north
Listening to: Zero Dark Eighties: Pop Hits for Nighttime
["Break Free", Queen] See, the thing is, I don't have the opposite of regular people hours anymore. That's how I managed to do all my early morning walks: I got up at 18:00 and went to bed at 10:00 the next day. That way, 06:00 happened right in the middle of my day. Anyway, that's why yesterday didn't happen. I accidentally fell asleep watching Super Monkey Ball 2 on Freetube.
Just because I can, I think I'll walk all the way around the university campus today. For a start, I want to see if I can do it at all. For another thing, I've pretty much run out of places I can walk on this side of the campus. I kinda want to see what's going on to the south a bit.
["Video Killed the Radio Star", The Buggles] Yes, yes, this song is from the '70s, not the '80s. We've been over that.
There's a car stopped just beyond the crest of the hill with the brightest headlamps I've seen since the last time the police were looking for someone. Driving past me now, it doesn't look like the police. For a start, this car has running lights underneath it. More than likely it's just someone's weed man.
["Rocket Man", Elton John] Did it just get colder out here? Oh, I see. We're on the opposite side of the sport fields. Huge wide-open space acts upon the north wind the way the residence hall carpark does with the south wind. But hey! Aren't you glad we made it this far? Uphill no less! Anyway, it's just as dark down here as it is back there, but it's different darkness. As in, it's not the same old darkness we usually get.
I can kinda see into the athletic building but not very well. More like, I can see the odd security light here and there and the rafter it's attached to. But, I can't actually see in, because it's one of those '50s modernist type buildings that's been built into the ground. Unlike AISFU, this school doesn't have the money to constantly dynamite their 20-year-old buildings and build new ones, so there's still quite a lot here from the '50s. I don't know what any of them are for, but you can definitely tell they were built in the '50s. Except the admissions building, which was probably built in the '90s. And, of course, the science building they build a few years ago. I know that's the admissions building because I went in there once in 2009. I thought I'd be going there to study computer science. Nope.
["Deep Sleep", Devo] I'm gonna take one earphone out so I can listen to the leaves rustling. There's a jack-o-lantern over there that looks real. I question the wisdom of carving a pumpkin so far away from halloween, but to each her own I guess. I should really get round to getting my own pumpkin, but I don't know about leaving it on the deck, what with Milton Squirrel popping in occasionally. I'd really prefer he didn't eat my jack-o-lantern.
Isn't that the most satisfying sound, though? Rustling autumn leaves. The only thing preventing it being a best-seller on the ASMR "going to sleep" market is that it kinda needs a chilly breeze and that fall smell to be taken seriously. Otherwise, it's just a rainstick.
["The Great Ones Remember", Men Without Hats] I've been watching the pavement around here, seeing if it's adequate for bike traffic. So far, there's been a bit of a hairpin turn back there by the roadside parking, and there's some crumbly pavement here by the rubbish skip. Otherwise it seems pretty much— oooff, never mind! Big-ass frost heave just there. It's sort of near the arts building's door #3. Apart from that bit, though, it's been okay for bikes. I mean, you've got to think that most of the kids who go here ride bikes, don't they? Well, if not "most", then enough to make a difference.
["Devo Has Feelings Too", Devo] The last time I was over here, it was 2020 and I was playing Pokémon Go. I walked down here because I saw a Lure Module active (what the hell do those things attract other than Pokémon Go players?) but by the time I got here, the Stop was taken over by a Team Rocket grunt and I didn't have enough supplies to do anything with. Of course, it was about 3 in the afternoon then, and there was a group of girls chatting loudly over by the sculpture. Today, it's dark, no one's around, and I don't play Pokémon Go anymore. And I'm a girl now, myself; there's that, too. You know, I just realised, I've had that Super Mario Bros. boxart shirt for 4 years. I like that shirt, it's the only one that fits me perfectly.
At this point, once I get to the sorority house, this is just the route I normally go. Several tracks pass with nothing interesting happening, and then...
["What's Up?", 4 Non Blondes] Well what do you know? They STILL haven't fixed that light. It's only been, what, 3 months?
October 14 2024
I did the stairs again today, rather than taking a stroll. I'll get to it tomorrow.
October 13 2024
Temperature: 52°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: light from the north
Listening to: Ed Edd n Eddy Character Anthems Playlist
["Everybody's Broke", Herbie Hancock (Eddy's Anthem)]Oh at last! It's finally going to cool off and stay cooled off all day. Summer is finally over, and I'm here for it.
This house here where the guy and his dogs live has like scarecrows or something out here. That's a start. It also looks like there's someone standing against that lamppost up there. I can tell it's a human and not a scarecrow because he crossed his legs just now. Anyway, it looks like I'll be crossing the road here.
["Flying North", Thomas Dolby (Double Dee's anthem)] I totally forgot to notice if they fixed the light back there. Oh well, that was blocks ago. Hey, those shoes from on top of that letterbox are finally gone!
I think I'll carry on down another block. I need to come this way to vote in November and I'd rather walk than drive. Oh, I don't look a THING like my driver's license photo anymore. Mum says my eyebrows are the same, but who knows what metrics they're using to determine if you're a dastardly illegal committing voter fraud? Thanks a lot, Scurvy Pete. Can't thank you enough for throwing Black, Brown, and impoverished white people under the bus like that. Whatever.
["Monsters", Blue Öyster Cult (Ed's Anthem)] The automatic sprinklers are on at the university. There's surprisingly little overspray onto the walking pavement, which is a nice change from my own flat which seems to water the carpark more than the lawn most of the time.
["The Unheard Music", X (Sarah's Anthem)] I'm pretty tired. I think I'll forget about the alley this morning.
October 12 2024
Taking a break for Yom Kippur. I'll be back tomorrow.
October 11 2024
Temperature: 65°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: moderate from the south
Listening to: Rhythm of Youth (Men Without Hats, 1982; 1st-pressing Canadian LP track order)
["Ban the Game"] It feels good to get back outside during the early morning. Late morning and afternoon are fine, but I feel like you can get a more authentic sense of a place just before dawn. People are just waking up for the most part; some are already off to work and band practise and stuff; but mostly it's the groggy calm before the morning commute. People are coming back from night jobs, buses and bin vans are lit up like decorations, husbands are taking out the trash they promised their spouse they'd take out last night, and there's a sense of anticipation in the air. As though something important is going to happen at any moment. Sorry, I haven't been out of the house in 2 days :P
["Living in China"] Boy, the uh... the lyrics to this song are kinda racist a bit. Walking along this road, with the huge wide-open residence hall carpark across to the south, there's no windbreak for about half a mile. You really get that south wind here and basically nowhere else along this route. I'm not sure why this is, but south winds always seem to me to come from the ground level, while north winds come from up in the sky. There's no meteorological evidence for this, of course, it's just me here.
["I Got the Message"] Last month, I'd hoped that there would be more halloween decorations around here by now. I guess no one wants to look like they're competing with Thin Blue Line over there.
["Safety Dance"] ISN'T ANYONE GOING TO FIX THAT LIGHT? EVER?
["Ideas for Walls"] Someone drew hopscotch on the pavement here. If i weren't so tired out, I'd play it. I remember seeing a video on tumblr once, where someone drew a hopscotch game on the pavement in a moderately well-traveled area and set up a camera to see how many people would play and how many would just walk over it like it wasn't there. I always accuse my generation of forgetting how to use our imaginations and have fun, so I resolved to play any hopscotch I came across in the wilds, just lying out there in the open. But I'm so tired right now. I know that sounds like an excuse.
October 10 2024
Spaced it. Sorry.
October 9 2024
Temperature: 81°F
Condition: Hazy
Wind: none
Listening to: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate coming out of #3
It's a copypaste of yesterday. It's too warm and too hazy for me today (by "hazy", i mean particulates in the atmosphere as opposed to fog or anything interesting), so I'm doing the stairs for exercise instead of walking for fun. Oh well, at least it gets me out of my chair. My uncomfortable wooden chair.
October 8 2024
Temperature: 81°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: none
Listening to: the sound of the laundry machines
I'm still not feeling 100% from yesterday, but I'm not dizzy anymore, so I'm doing the stairs again. Gotta maintain my jogger thighs somehow!
Come to think of it, #8's "horror villains + Elvira" doormat has Darth Maul on it.
October 7 2024
I woke up this morning feeling kind of listless and dizzy. I don't think I'll be going anywhere today, sorry.
October 6 2024
Temperature: 73°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: Strong from the north
Listening to: nothing
I woke up late this morning and I wasn't feeling very good, so rather than accidentally walk through an impromptu Sunday afternoon activity somewhere, I decided to just do the stairs at home again.
I know it sounds counterintuitive, but exercise really does give you energy and confidence! Plus, the fact I have jogger thighs because of these stairs and the walks I take in the morning is also giving me confidence. I'm doing nothing more complicated than going down and up the stairs every hour and/or going for about a 1/4 mile walk every morning and I'm feeling better about myself than ever before. This certainly hasn't cured anything, and anyone who tells you that you can "cure depression" by exercising is probably trying to sell you something. But, in my case, this in tandem with my HRT has really worked for me in a way I thought nothing ever could.
Besides, this way I get to look at #8's bangin' horror-villains doormat. Well, all the horror villains plus Elvira.
Also, something that's contributing to my good mood today is the random $10 someone gave me on PayPal a couple days ago. Thanks, mate! Your contribution is definitely going to help the Chair Fund (no I still can't afford the new chair, plus I had to dip into the Chair Fund to buy food for rosh hashana. Oh well. We'll get there someday).
October 5 2024
Temperature: 63°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: Moderate from the south
Listening to: nothing
Taking my morning stroll at 0900 instead of 0600, I can actually see things that I've been passing by without noticing. For instance, this tree outside the student flats. It never occurred to me that it had been cut down, because I couldn't see it. I wonder how long I've been walking by here without realising the tree was missing? It's not like this was a particularly healthy tree; it was all rotten at the base, half the branches were dead, and it had been threatening to fall over, probably since the late '80s.
Since the football game preparations are well underway at this point, the frat house carpark is nearly empty, so is the one for the sorority.
It's possible that at least some of the minivans with stick figure families on them parked outside the Greek houses were inherited by the freshmen. Like, there's no way that either of these girls getting into that van have so many kids. I don't care what neo-evangelist breeder cult you're a part of, it simply is not possible to have 4 infants, 2 older children, and 2 teenagers when you're, what, 19? 20? More than likely, these were the 2 teenagers depicted in that stick figure family. This doesn't negate the fact that the student base of this university is still pretty old by cultural standards. The young up-and-comers all go to Absurdly Influential State Football University.
It turns out that there is, in fact, a camera mounted to the tree outside this house. However, it's angled to surveil the front porch, rather than the street, and doesn't appear to be capable of swiveling. So, good, I didn't get my picture taken by the corporate feudal state the other day.
This house with the little free library out front also has an absurd presidential campaign banner done up in the typography of Trump 2016. It isn't Trump, but I can't figure out what it says because the sun is glinting off this car so I can't look in that direction. Honestly, I don't really care. It's like all those "Make x y Again" hats that showed up in 2019 and 2020; it's not clever anymore and someone's going to think it's the genuine article. If you're wearing a red trucker cap with white Times New Roman on the front, from a distance it's gonna look like "Make America Great Again". It doesn't matter what it really says, you look like a Trump supporter from a distance.
Even though it's still pretty cool and windy out here, I'm just dragging along. I feel like there's something weighing me down, sapping my energy. I think it's the idea that in about 4 hours' time, it's going to be record-breaking heat. Well, maybe not as hot as that, but pretty damn near to it. 95°F today on October 5th. What kind of sense does that make? I'm gonna be so sweaty when I get home...
In the daylight, I can see that even though there are 4 of the same flat from the '50s on this road, they're all in different colours. One is in grey stacked stone with white clapboards, one is in red brick with concrete belting, the one down there is in tan stone with blue clapboards, and this one is fully brick with no belting or siding. Also, what I thought were pink high-tops sitting on this letterbox are actually more khaki. They look like they've been sitting here for months.
Since it's 0930 at the weekend, I'm not likely to meet a school bus near the Spider Tree and Bug Bush today.
Even though they never fix the floodlight, at least it turns off during the day.
October 4 2024
Temperature: 49°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: Moderate from a variable northerly direction
Listening to: Eighties o'Clock
["Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", Wham!] It's that time of year where it's "light jacket" weather in the morning and "shorts and a tanktop" weather in the afternoon. Eventually, this will stop and it'll be "light jacket" all day. But not today.
I walked by the new halloween lights this morning; they're cascading purple, blue, and white LEDs that are probably made to look like magical smoke coming out of a witch's cauldron. If you put these into a decorative cauldron with a smoke machine, I'm sure it would look very impressive; but in the meantime, there's no law that says you can't put them on your boxwood hedges.
["Turning Japanese", The Vapors] Let's avoid the traffic and walk on the other side of the street this morning, shall we? The pavement is more even here anyway.
["Freedom of Choice", Devo] The modernist chandeliere in the stairwell of the easternmost '50s flat is on today. The stained glass is colouring the light the same colour as the sky at the moment, so I almost didn't notice it. Yes, I'm sure this building and its various copies on this road were very impressive back in the '50s.
["Hello America", Def Leppard] I managed to miss the school bus this morning. I think the driver changed the route, since there are no school-aged children who live in this bit of the neighbourhood.
The floodlight strobes in better time with this song than "Safety Dance" or "Holy Diver". When I said "perfect time", I meant it desyncs every 2nd and 4th beat. However, "Hello America" matches the light perfectly. Isn't anyone EVER going to fix that thing?
October 3 2024
Temperature: 49°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: none
Listening to: 1980s Onehits & Clichés
["Down Under", Men At Work] I almost slept through my scheduled stroll time again! But it's rosh hashana, so I owe it to myself to get back into it.
["Safety Dance", Men Without Hats] What I said last week about the malfunctioning floodlight must have been wrong, because here's "Safety Dance", and the light is still flashing in time with the song. Isn't anyone ever going to fix that thing? No, of course not.
October 3rd and still hardly any Halloween decorations. I guess people must be waiting for the weekend? If they can tear themselves away from football, that is.
["Africa", Toto] I guess what Dave P. sings in the chorus of this song depends on your equaliser settings? "I bless the rains, I miss the rains, I'd guess it rains, a mess it rains", whatever.
["Take On Me", a-ha] With my car in the condition that it's in, I'm gonna have to walk down here to vote next month. It's good that I've been doing this, it won't seem like such a long way anymore. Of course, this is the first year we're all going to need to display identification of some kind. Thanks a lot, Scurvy Pete.
There's WAY too much activity around the sorority house to carry on walking this way. I'll just turn here and intersect my outbound route. I had hoped to see the new halloween decorations they put up next door to the house with the ghosts and bats on it, but it looks like I'll have to wait. See, this is what happens when you're 25 minutes late for your morning stroll!
["Holy Diver", Dio] Huh. It turns out that "Holy Diver" is the same speed as "Safety Dance", if the malfunctioning light is to be believed.
October 2 2024
Sorry, I slept through my stroll time this morning. I'll get back to it tomorrow.
October 1 2024
Temperature: 47°F
Condition: Clear
Wind: Moderate from the north
Listening to: Non-existent TV Show Playlist
["Computer Heaven Dance Mix", LCI] Today's music selection is from a '90s character drama I made up, whose incidental music was written by none other than yours truly. I did actually write some incidental music for that idea, but we probably won't get to it today. It's at the end of the playlist.
Anyway, I would classify this morning as chilly. This is exactly how you want October to start! The high isn't supposed to get out of the 60s fahrenheit, and the overnight low was actually 45°F. I can imagine this will lead to all kinds of Halloween adventures on the school playgrounds today at recess—it certainly did at mine.
Why does my playlist start with a song that I wrote? Because I'm self-centred. Next question.
["Good Riddance", Green Day] It's cold enough out here, I might just find the energy to walk all the way to Absurdly Influential State Football University's east campus. Oh wait, I have to cross a high-density road during the rush hour to get back. Never mind then.
["Where Do All My Friends Go", Oingo Boingo] There's a strange dim blue light in that tree up there. It seems to go away whenever I look at it directly. It also has a red light next to it... Oh, that's a camera. Gee, thanks, random guy who lives in this house, I sure do like having my picture taken by the corporate feudal state.
["Too Much Information", Duran Duran] There's nothing going on right now, so I'll mention that, whenever I used to sing along with this song in the car, I would substitute lyrics at the chorus. "Destroyed by CBS, I hate to bite the hand that feeds us so much information", "Destroyed by Mickey Mouse, I hate to bite the hand that pays out so much information", because BBC and ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) were never particularly relevant to Americans and MTV hasn't been relevant for about 20 years.
["What's Up", 4 Non Blondes] And, on that note, I'll walk back home to the soft-rock OG version of the electro-house song from the He-Man meme. The vocallist is a lesbian, did you know that? Yeah! We're everywhere. Of course, there's a LOT of cute girls in the music industry, especially back in the early '90s. MILFs like Cyndi Lauper, rising stars like Mariah Carey, and certainly production assistants and label songwriters. Anyway, plainly I've run out of things to talk about this morning. Going inside to work on my website now, byeeeee!
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